OTTAWA – The federal government will cut $2.6 billion in spending and nearly 5,000 jobs from its science-focused departments between 2013 and 2016, says a report released Thursday by a union representing government scientists and professionals.

The report, which includes survey data showing a majority of scientists believe their departments are weakening efforts to protect Canadians and the environment, highlights the departure of key experts who did research on rail safety and public health, as well as the recent review of Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline proposal.

The survey results by Environics Research found that an overwhelming percentage of federal scientists and other members of the union — the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada — believed recently adopted legislation and policies accompanying the cuts are causing the federal government to fail its duties to control air and water pollution and other impacts of industrial activity.

The union estimated that despite recent economic stimulus spending, the federal government has already cut $596 million in science and technology budgets and the equivalent of more than 2,000 positions over the past five years, eliminating what the union describes as Canadian public interest science.

“Many of the cuts have eliminated any hope – at least for the foreseeable future – of policies based on evidence,” concludes the report, entitled Vanishing Science. “The government’s credibility, already in tatters after numerous financial fiascos ranging from the true costs of purchasing new F-35 fighter jets to the false expense claims of the Duffy-Wright Senate scandal, has frayed to the point that its assurance such cuts will be neither seen nor felt hangs on the slenderest of threads.”

One of the retired federal experts, former Transport Canada engineer Jean-Pierre Gagnon, left the government in March 2013, after receiving notice that his position would be affected by workforce restructuring one year earlier. At the time, the report said he was working on a review of rail tank cars, including the Class 111 cars that were involved in the fatal Lac-Megantic, Que., disaster.

Five engineers in the union, who worked with Gagnon in a division that focused on dangerous cargo transportation, received notice their jobs were affected by budget cuts and three retired, the union said. Transport Canada said it would provide a response on Friday.

Other federal departments mentioned in the report, referred questions to Industry Canada and Greg Rickford, the federal minister responsible for science. Rickford’s spokesman, Scott French, noted that Canada was first in an OECD ranking among G7 countries for research and development in colleges, universities and other institutes. The ranking also showed Canada has reduced the percentage of federal spending on government research and science in recent years, that it was below the OECD average and was proportionately spending less than half as much as the United States in terms of the size of overall economic output or GDP.

Phil Burton, a retired Natural Resources Canada scientist who contributed to the review of the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, told Postmedia News in an interview that the cuts would compromise federal efforts to oversee the project, if approved, and its ability to enforce some of the 209 conditions recommended by the review panel.

“So there is a capacity issue there in terms of time, manpower and budgets for government scientists to be involved,” Burton said. “And (there’s) also the need for those government scientists to have the expertise to critically and rigorously provide input, rather than rubber stamping.”

Burton, who left his government job in 2012, was also skeptical about some recommendations from the federal pipeline panel’s final report, including its conclusion that oil spills wouldn’t cause permanent damage.

“Well they’re still visible after the Exxon Valdez (oil spill from 1989), so how much more long-lasting do you want it to be. Yes, old-growth forests can recover in maybe 80 to 100 years, but that’s beyond the life of the project. So some of those statements that things were not significant, were a little bit too freely given.”

Key numbers from the Environics Research survey of federal professionals and scientists:

– In the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, the survey reported 86 per cent of scientists believed changes to the federal Fisheries Act will actually harm fish and their habitat.

– More than three out of five, or 62 per cent of scientists, said they were not getting approval to travel to conferences or other events directly related to their work.

– More than two-thirds, or 69 per cent of Environment Canada scientists, believed it was doing a worse job at protecting the environment than five years ago.

– Among scientists whose work involves climate change science, fisheries and habitat, 62 per cent said their department is getting less effective at delivering on its mandate.

The numbers and findings of the report demonstrate that what Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty had previously described as “back-office” cuts are, in fact, affecting air and water quality, the survival of other species, and the health and safety of all Canadians, said the institute’s president Debi Daviau.

Federal opposition critics agreed.

“I think it’s more politically driven than by good management of the country,” said Ted Hsu, the opposition Liberal science critic.

The NDP has proposed to introduce a national science policy, if elected to form a government, as part of a strategy, including increased spending to improve Canada’s performance.

“If you did this survey 10 years ago, I think you would have, pretty well, the opposite result,” said NDP science critic Kennedy Stewart. “You always have your gripes in different workplaces, but this is a totally different situation. These numbers to me show a culture that has been destroyed. When I talk to scientists who have left… they’re just talking about a poisoned culture now.”